Buffalo Trace Workers Evacuate Distillery After Discovering Bomb From World War II While Unpacking Boxes

Buffalo Trace Distillery was evacuated this week when a World War II bomb was discovered on the premises. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images for ACM)

Buffalo Trace Distillery was evacuated Wednesday after an incendiary World War II bomb was found on the property, according to the Lexington Herald Leader.

The bomb was uncovered when the archives team was unpacking boxes from London brand Booth’s Gin. The building was evacuated, and Kentucky State Police were called to the scene to safely remove the device. The device was safely removed from the distillery. It’s unknown how long the bomb was there.

Finding old World War II-era bombs is far from unheard of in the modern era. Last month, Japanese soldiers discovered and disarmed a 550-pound bomb that had been buried 8 feet underground. Last May, a World War II bomb was found buried about 6.5 feet underground next to a children’s playground in Frankfurt, Germany. It was safely detonated. Later that year, in December, a World War II bomb exploded at a construction site next to a railway line in Munich, Germany, injuring four people.

It happens in the U.S., too. In May, a Missouri woman discovered one of the behemoth bombs while gardening. It was safely removed by the St. Louis Regional Bomb and Arson Unit.

Bombs even older than World-War-II-era are still found, too. Just this week, archaeologists discovered an intact 157-year-old Civil War bomb at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield in Georgia.

So, while finding old bombs isn’t exactly a daily occurrence, it isn’t unheard of, either. We’re sure that it was still plenty frightening for the fine folk at Buffalo Trace, though.

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